Thoracic disc surgery - sensory issues

[Sheila P]

I have numbness and tingling and funny sensory feelings after a herniated thoracic disc. I am considering surgery but want to get in touch with anyone who has done similar or has a similar condition. It's making life very hard and I want to share experiences as doctors give mixed advice. Please do get in touch!

[phenri]

I have degenerative disc disease with thoriac radiculopathy with herniation and spinal stenosis at the T8-9 level. I fell you pain. I have tried the conservative method with mixed results. Physical therapy and two trips to the chiropractor with minimal results. I even tried the trigger point and steroids injections, they helped more then the other stuff. But the pain is not fully gone and comes back in a few weeks to full tilt. I will admit I only had one three shot series, insurance problems sealed that deal. I will try this time  to get the three, three shot series this next time. Thank the lord the VA medical system now treats this sort of injury. I will do all I can before I get the surgery.

best of luck

[mike1105]

chorot sounds like a chiropractor, and "SPINE" is probably a chiropractoic magazine. i am not against chiropractics, but it is my feling from experience that muscles pull and push the spine, not the other way around. fix the muscle problem, the spine goes back to where it is spposed to go. Adjust the spine, and for the most part i think the muscles justpull the spine back to where it was. this is why many people say chiropractic relief is so short lived. my 2 cents.

[chirot]

Surgery is not your only option.

Did you know that each year, approximately 600,000 back operations are performed in the United States? Did you also know that up to half of these often-unnecessary surgeries wind up leaving the patient with what has become known as “Failed Back Surgery Syndrome”? What’s interesting is, no other surgery has such a syndrome! Have you ever heard of “Failed Appendectomy Surgery Syndrome”?

Many insurance companies will pay for expensive (and ineffective) back surgery but not for preventive chiropractic care. Failed Back Surgery Syndrome results when a patient experiences pain or some type of physical incapacitation from a back condition that was supposed to have been relieved by surgery.

Poor judgment on the part of the attending physician who recommended the surgery in the first place is often the cause. Spine, one of the world’s most respected medical journals, reported that more than 90% of all patients with herniated discs would get better without surgery by undergoing “conservative” chiropractic care. Spine goes on to say that, "Over time, most patients with disc herniations recover with or without surgery, so that outcomes after five years are similar when surgical and non-surgical approaches are compared..." So what Spine is actually saying here is – it makes no difference whether you do or don’t have the surgery, the results are the same!

Chiropractic care may help you avoid unnecessary, and unsuccessful, back surgery. Please weigh all your options before choosing back surgey...

best of luck,

t


information from: herbafamilywellness.com

[mike1105]

HUGE decision. I agree w the above post. From all I've read, thoracic surgery is a dificult proposition----how do you even know for sure that your symptoms are from this disk??was there an injury??? thoracic disk herniations are very unusual.

[ssjdecube]

Sometimes surgery can be the only effective option, but I would try some non-invasive stuff first. Surgery is non-reversable, and its a road I would only go down if you have exhausted everything else. Also, is there anything you can do to help relieve the symptoms and do you know what type of surgery they woud want to do on you?